{"520561":{"#nid":"520561","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Evolving at Hilton Head","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EIn February 1997, when an avid community of researchers was invited by Bob Nerem to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for a conference to discuss their work in bioengineering and tissue engineering, they brought with them cutting-edge science and the high hopes that it could change the world.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EIn mid March 2016, when a larger group of researchers met on Hilton Head for the 20\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E annual conference, which has come to be known as the Regenerative Medicine Workshop, the science was still cutting edge, and hopes were still high, bolstered now by a sense of purpose harvested from two decades of experience.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThe workshop has evolved, like the science,\u201d says Nerem, founding director of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who launched the annual gathering of scientists, engineers, clinicians and business people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ENerem, who with his wife Marilyn had a home on Hilton Head at the time, says he got to thinking, \u201cyou know, this is a pretty nice place. I wonder if our research friends from around the country would enjoy coming here for a long weekend to be together and network and share their latest results.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EAs it turned out, they really did enjoy it, and every spring they keep coming back. A few, like Nerem and current Petit Institute Director Bob Guldberg, never seem to miss the workshop, which has become such a part of the anticipated academic-year rhythm, that this landmark anniversary sort of snuck up on them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cI was honestly shocked when I realized this was the 20th anniversary of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E first regenerative medicine workshop,\u201d says Guldberg, professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThe longevity of the workshop is a testament to the people who come and\u0026nbsp;present their work each year as well as the accelerating momentum of the\u0026nbsp;regenerative medicine field and industry,\u201d he adds. \u201cIts remarkable when you consider the great science that\u0026nbsp;has been shared and the relationships that have been built through this meeting.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe science and the relationships (both personal and professional) were enough to draw a number of participants who attended the first workshop back to the 20\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E (March 16-19 at Sea Pines Resort), researchers like Abhay Pandit, who made the trip from the National University of Ireland, Galway, where he is director of the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EPandit, who was with Kendall Company when he first registered for the conference in 1997, led off this year\u2019s panel discussion entitled, \u2018Translational Challenges and Opportunities: Experience from the Front Line.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cEvents like this workshop are a collection point of reflection,\u201d he says. \u201cWith every new discovery or new innovation, there are new sets of challenges. How we overcome them is a story by itself. I think gatherings like this empower our community to lobby our various funding agencies, to say, \u2018these are our challenges, and there is hope in what we do.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EBuddy Ratner, a keynote speaker at the first Hilton Head workshop, delivered the opening keynote at the 20\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E, covering three main topics: a celebration of 20 years, a clear-headed overview of the regenerative medicine field, and a perspective on prospects for the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThere has been some brilliant research and some of what we\u2019re doing right now could lead to big things,\u201d says Ratner, professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering at the University of Washington, where he directs the Research Center for Biomaterials.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EHe points out, for example, that scientific discoveries useful for re-growing a limb already have been made, and that maybe it\u2019s time to develop the technology to exploit these discoveries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cRe-growing a limb,\u201d Ratner says. \u201cWhat could be more regenerative than that?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EMichael Hiles, vice president for research and clinical affairs at Cook Biotech, also brought long-term perspective, having attended the first and now the 20\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E workshops, and some in between.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re still asking some of the same questions, but significant progress has been made,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are a lot of cell-based and acellular products on the market now that weren\u2019t back then.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EAn expert on biomaterials and biological scaffolds used in tissue engineering applications, Hiles has 30 patents and was starting his company under Cook\u2019s influential umbrella 20 years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThe right place at the right time to start a biotech company from scratch,\u201d he says. Since then, he says, Cook\u2019s extracellular matrix (ECM) tissue grafts have treated millions of patients.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EAnother leading researcher in biomaterials, Karen Christman from the University of California-San Diego, offered a keynote presentation on \u201cInjectable Biomaterials for Treating Cardiovascular Disease.\u201d It\u2019s an area of research she\u2019s been immersed in since her first Hilton Head presentation, in 2003, when she was still a graduate student.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cI showed for the first time that you could use an injectable material to improve cardiac function without the addition of cells,\u201d Christman says. \u201cAnd I was extremely nervous. But Linda Griffith helped me get over my fear of public speaking.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EGriffith, who received her undergraduate degree from Georgia Tech and is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was the Nerem Lecturer, delivering the workshop\u2019s final presentation, \u201cMove Over, Mice: How Integration of Systems Biology with Organs-on-Chips will Humanize Therapeutic Development.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EHer lecture closed shop on what was actually a two-fold event for Georgia Tech at Hilton Head, beginning with the International Advanced Course on Regenerative Medicine Manufacturing (March 12-16 at Sea Pines).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThis was the second advanced course, an event that was first held in Portugal in 2013. An international collaboration between Georgia Tech, the Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico in Lisbon, Portugal, and the University of Loughborough in the United Kingdom, the purpose of the course is to train pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in the translation of cell-based technologies for the large-scale production into clinical therapies. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cGetting these young people together to network leads to future collaborations, and that leads to future growth of the field,\u201d says Joaquim Cabral, from the Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, who hosted the first advanced course in 2013.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ESean Palecek, professor at the University of Wisconsin who chaired the organizing committee for the Hilton Head advanced course, calls the event, \u201ca unique opportunity for trainees, grad students, and postdocs to get exposure to the industrial side of cell manufacturing. I think bringing in more industry partners this time worked really well. That was a big hit with the trainees.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EAs the advanced course concluded, a new era began for the Regenerative Medicine Workshop, which added a new sponsor this year in the Mayo Clinic, who joined fellow sponsors Georgia Tech, Emory University, the University of Georgia, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Wisconsin. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThe workshop has evolved considerably, and its exciting to\u0026nbsp;see how the meeting content has changed over time,\u201d Guldberg says. \u201cFor example, 20 years ago\u0026nbsp;topics like immunoengineering or cell manufacturing were not part of the\u0026nbsp;discussion. The combination of beautiful venue, great partnerships, and\u0026nbsp;exciting science make this workshop really unique and I\u2019m already energized\u0026nbsp;about the possibilities for next year.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Regenerative Medicine Workshop brings top researchers together for 20th year"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ERegenerative Medicine Workshop brings top researchers together for 20\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E year\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Regenerative Medicine Workshop brings top researchers together for 20th year"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2016-04-01 10:59:04","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:14","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"520491":{"id":"520491","type":"image","title":"Bob G, Linda G, Bob N","body":null,"created":"1459544429","gmt_created":"2016-04-01 21:00:29","changed":"1475895289","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:49","alt":"Bob G, Linda G, Bob N","file":{"fid":"205299","name":"bobs_and_linda.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bobs_and_linda_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bobs_and_linda_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2175007,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bobs_and_linda_0.jpg?itok=R6WGcTdM"}},"520521":{"id":"520521","type":"image","title":"Nerem Lecture","body":null,"created":"1459558800","gmt_created":"2016-04-02 01:00:00","changed":"1475895289","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:49","alt":"Nerem Lecture","file":{"fid":"205301","name":"linda_g.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/linda_g.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/linda_g.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3554067,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/linda_g.jpg?itok=aN2qAPAU"}},"520501":{"id":"520501","type":"image","title":"Abhay Pandit","body":null,"created":"1459544429","gmt_created":"2016-04-01 21:00:29","changed":"1475895289","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:49","alt":"Abhay Pandit","file":{"fid":"205300","name":"abhay_copy.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/abhay_copy_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/abhay_copy_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2201189,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/abhay_copy_0.jpg?itok=_-YRIhrN"}},"520551":{"id":"520551","type":"image","title":"Poster contest","body":null,"created":"1459558800","gmt_created":"2016-04-02 01:00:00","changed":"1475895289","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:49","alt":"Poster contest","file":{"fid":"205304","name":"claire_and_kacey.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/claire_and_kacey.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/claire_and_kacey.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1903302,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/claire_and_kacey.jpg?itok=6la2eeS6"}},"520541":{"id":"520541","type":"image","title":"Bob and Buddy","body":null,"created":"1459558800","gmt_created":"2016-04-02 01:00:00","changed":"1475895289","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:49","alt":"Bob and Buddy","file":{"fid":"205303","name":"bob_and_buddy.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bob_and_buddy.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bob_and_buddy.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1746211,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bob_and_buddy.jpg?itok=yYnb6Cqf"}}},"media_ids":["520491","520521","520501","520551","520541"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. 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